Weekend Update + Plans for the Week

Not much to report in terms of a weekend update. After last weekend’s merriment, this weekend was quiet – housecleaning, a bit of shopping, organizing, meal planning, and some grocery shopping. Today’s post is going to be more for me than for you – I want to write down plans I will be accomplishing for the week. You guys can help to keep me accountable.

One thing I did this weekend was that I picked up a freelance writing gig. Money is a bit tight right now, and will be for the foreseeable future, so I got creative, found Guru.com, and away we go. Every little bit helps, and if I can get paid for doing things I like and that I’m good at – all the better. The trickiest part is the bidding for the project – you go into it blindly and don’t know how much other people are offering to do the work. My theory is that I won’t work for less than a certain amount on any given project, so if I get it, great, and if I don’t, it wasn’t worth it. I don’t want to spend my precious free time working on something unless it’s really worth my while. And while I’m not sure this is the best strategy, it worked, because I got a project that I’m hoping leads to more projects.

My mom and I went shopping at Macy’s for some new capris for her, and one thing that really struck me (and motivated me!) was the fact that normal-sized clothes are so much less expensive. Especially when things are on sale at Macy’s, and you have a Macy’s card that gives you endless coupons (20% off of this, $20 off of that). I told my mom that one of my future goals – one of the ways that I’ll know I’m at my goal weight – is when I can shop the regular racks of clothes at Macy’s and pay using my Macy’s card. (I currently don’t have a Macy’s card because I’m not that enamored with their plus size section. Even though they have the same brands that I love in “normal” sizes, like Style & Co and INC. At goal weight, I can see myself filling my wardrobe with items from those lines because they’re on trend but not too trendy. Shopping is going to be so much fun at goal weight (or even under 200 lbs), but I’m going to have to figure out a way to pay for all the clothes! A problem I’ll gladly deal with. 🙂

Ok, now on to the plans…

Meal Plans
The best way for me to stay on track is to make sure I have lots of healthy food available. And not just healthy food, but plans for how I’m going to prepare it. I’m also trying really had to use what I already have and not waste food, so when I scoped out some extra lean ground turkey in the freezer, I had to figure out what I was going to do with it. I will never again by extra lean turkey (99/1), because it is so dry and tasteless. I tried making turkey burgers with it, and not even the green onions or Worcester sauce helped; they were flavorful, but oh so dry. I was trying to figure out what to do with this meat when my mom suggested I make the HG 10-Alarm Crockpot Chili. It’s perfect because it calls for lots of tomato sauce and undrained beans, and all that liquid will help make the turkey moist.

Monday Dinner: HG 10-Alarm Crockpot Chili (Since it makes A LOT, I will freeze some for next week, but also use it for lunches, too).
Tuesday Dinner: Grilled salmon, spinach and TJ’s Rice Medley*
Wednesday Dinner: Curry Chicken, spinach, TJ’s Hearty Grains**
Thursday Dinner: HG 10-Alarm Crockpot Chili, side salad
Friday Dinner: Spinach Salad with Curry Chicken

New Find at TJ's!

*Yesterday I found this at Trader Joe’s in the freezer section.  I like having quick rice options that only take a few minutes to heat up in the microwave.  This medley is great because it combines brown rice, red rice, and black barley.  It’s chewy and tasty and very filling.  It’s going to become a staple in my freezer.

An oldie, but a goodie

**This Harvest Grains blend isn’t new to me, but it is still one of my favorites.  It combines Israeli couscous, orzo, baby garbanzo beans, and red quinoa.  I’ve missed having it in my pantry and I’m glad it’s back.

Various Lunch Options:

• Wraps: – La Tortilla Factory Wraps filled with deli turkey, lettuce (spinach or romaine), smeared with Laughing Cow cheese
• Lentil salad
• Grilled salmon on a bed of spinach
• ItalianTuna wrap (tuna and lettuce/spinach on a La Tortilla wrap)

Lots of good food that will keep me on plan and feeling satisfied.

Do you have some go-to recipes that you use when you need to make sure you’re on track for the week? I’d love for you to share them (plus any links) in the comments.

Housework Plans

Usually I tackle all the housecleaning, laundry, and organizing on the weekends in one big whirlwind. And when I’m done I’m happy that I got so much accomplished, but I’m exhausted from all the effort. But when I’m working, there doesn’t really seem to be another way. I’m better in long sessions rather than short bursts, most of the time.

Now that summer is here I’m going to try something different. It’s hard for me to break my usual pattern, but beginning today, I’m going to tackle one or two items each day, so that I can save my weekends for fun things. Since I have the time and my schedule is my own, I can easily do a bit of housework, workout, do some freelance work, and still enjoy my day. Here’s the plan:

Everyday:

1. Electric broom the floors. You can’t imagine how much dirt, grass, and other oddities two cute dogs can track in the house. I am so glad I have the Electrolux Ergorapido because it makes cleaning up so much easier. I couldn’t live without it.
2. Wipe off the kitchen counters.

• Monday: Organize the kitchen desk drawers – they’ve gotten out of control and need some TLC ASAP.
• Tuesday: Dust the living room and dining room.
• Wednesday: Laundry and clean the bathrooms.
• Thursday: Mop the floors.
• Friday: Change the sheets.

I’m interested to try this “a bit each day” approach to see how I like it. It will be easy enough to keep up with this summer, and I think I may be able to do it when school starts, too. Especially since I’m getting off earlier every other day. We’ll see how long it can last. I like the idea in theory because it goes with the whole “moderation” approach that I’m using with food. Maybe if I can extend it to other parts of my life – like cleaning and grading – it will really become a habit.

How do you deal with housework? Do you save it up for one big round of cleaning or do you do a little bit each day?

Workout Plans

Monday: Turbo Kick (kickboxing) @ 6:30pm
Tuesday: Walking with a friend; swimming
Wednesday: Aqua aerobics @ 4:30pm
Thursday: BodyPump (Les Mills) @ 10am
Friday: Swimming
Weekend: Zumba, bike ride, taking Sofi on her first-ever walk around the block!!!

Since some of these classes will be new to me, look for new posts about how I liked each one.

Have you tried a new workout or class recently?  How did it go?

Fun Plans:

Last night my sister’s best friend dropped by to bring me this great Curly Girl wine glass as a 40th bday gift.  It was so sweet of her to think of me, and the best part was, she picked it without knowing how much I love Curly Girl stuff.  When she saw that my living room was decked out in old Curly Girl framed calendars, she got a huge smile on her face.  The saying on the wine glass reminds us that, “Life’s too short not to have a little umbrella in your drink.”  In that spirit, I’m planning to have a glass of wine at some point this week.  Just to unwind and enjoy.

This post has been filled with lots and lots of plans.  But they mean nothing unless they get turned into actions.  So to stay accountable, I’m going to tweet them as I do them.  That way I’m not filling the blog with lots of short posts about cleaning the house (boring!), but you guys can check to see that I’ve done what I’m planning to.  Make sure to follow me so that you can keep track of my progress.

All of these tasks aren’t quite so bad when I can do them and still get to spend time playing with the doggies.  🙂